Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has asked the Georgia Court of Appeals to reinstate six criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, as well as ones levied against his co-defendants, in the state’s sweeping election interference case.
The charges were previously dismissed by Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who ruled in March that the defendants had not been provided with enough detail to mount a proper defense. However, McAfee left the district attorney the ability to try to revive the charges.
Trump attorney Steve Sadow called Willis’s bid to revive the charges “simply incorrect on the law.”
“The trial court’s dismissal order properly decided that the State failed to sufficiently plead the allegations in the dismissed counts under Georgia law,” Sadow added.
The charges in question pertain to allegations that Trump and his co-defendants pressured Georgia officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to convene a special legislative session to appoint alternate electors favoring Trump, similar to an argument presented in special counsel Jack Smith’s federal case against the former president.
The dismissed solicitation charges involved “Counts 2, 5, 6, 23, 28, and 38″ of the 41-count indictment and affected Trump, as well as co-defendants Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows, John Eastman, Ray Smith, and Bob Cheeley. Those individuals were part of the racketeering indictment handed up to Willis by a special grand jury in August 2023.
Willis has yet to file an appeal over a separate decision from McAfee in September in which he dismissed “Counts 14, 15, and 27” because they “lie beyond this State’s jurisdiction. All three of those charges involved alleged attempts to file “false documents” in relation to Trump’s alleged bid to overturn the election results in the Peach State.
Trump faces eight felony charges in Georgia, down from the original 13 filed against him.
The case has been paused since June while the Court of Appeals considers whether Willis should be disqualified from the case. Defense attorneys argue that her personal relationship with former special prosecutor Nathan Wade, along with a fiery church speech, raised questions of impartiality.
Wade on Tuesday came to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., where he testified before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee that the case against him and his allies was “not politically motivated” and argued that he did “nothing to compromise the integrity” of it despite the romantic relationship he had with Willis.
Oral arguments on whether Willis can remain on the case are scheduled for Dec. 5, with a decision expected by March.
The Court of Appeals has yet to announce whether it will hear arguments related to the reinstatement of the dismissed charges.
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Legal experts have said that a trial is not expected to get underway until 2025, comparing it to the frequent delays that plagued another high-profile trial prosecuted by Willis’s office: the rapper Young Thug’s case.
It also remains to be seen what will happen in Trump’s case if he wins the election, as some experts have raised doubts that a trial can proceed while he is leading the nation.
